BUSE 2025/2029: Principles of Marketing
TEST PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. Firms marketing services often use _______________ to position themselves to relate
to the customer’s desire for caring and individualised attention.
a. reliability
b. responsiveness
c. assurance
d. empathy
e. tangibles
2. The term marketing refers to:
i. New product concepts and improvements
ii. Selling
iii. Advertising and promotion activities
iv. A philosophy that stresses customer satisfaction
v. Planning sales campaigns
Choose one of the following combinations:
a. i, iii
b. i, ii, iii, iv, v
c. iii, v
d. iv
e. i, ii, iii, v
3. When performance is less than expectations, the following occurs:
a. Confirmation
b. Satisfaction
c. Comparison
d. Dissatisfaction
e. Positive confirmation
4. Which one of the following statements represents a prerequisite for an exchange to
occur?
a. A complex societal system must be used
b. Organised marketing activities must occur
c. Each party must have something that is of value to the other party.
d. Money or other legal tender is required
e. A profit-oriented firm must be involved
5. What sort of orientation does a firm have when it bases its goals and strategies on
what the current plant equipment can produce, which products engineering can
design, and what the firm itself can do best?
a. Marketplace orientation
b. Production orientation.
c. Marketing orientation
d. Customer orientation
e. Sales orientation
6. One problem with the __________ approach to marketing is its failure to consider
whether what the firm produces most efficiently also meets the needs of the
marketplace.
a. customer orientation
b. societal orientation
c. discount orientation
d. marketing orientation
e. production orientation.
7. The __________ assumes that people are resistant to buying products that are not
absolutely necessary.
a. marketing orientation
b. sales orientation
c. customer orientation
d. production orientation
e. discount orientation.
8. Roche Pharmaceuticals produce cough drops to sell to consumers with colds. Roche’s
management assumes that anyone with a cold will need a cough drop, so it has
made its product affordable by offering only one variety in large quantities.
Roche Pharmaceuticals is an example of a _______________ firm.
a. relationship marketing orientated
b. production orientated
c. sales orientated
d. product orientated
e. marketing orientated.
9. Bayer manufactures Doom insect spray that has the words ‘ozone friendly’ on the
label. Which marketing philosophy are they following?
a. consumer
b. product
c. societal marketing
d. sales
e. production
10. Marketing starts with stating a long-term vision of what the firm is or is striving to
become. What is this statement called?
a. A marketing mix
b. A balance sheet
c. A mission statement
d. A target market strategy
e. An environmental scan audit.
11. A competitive advantage could be obtained by providing customer value. Which
ONE of the following statements do NOT pertain to customer value?
a. Scooter’s Pizza deliver at no extra cost within a 5km radius.
b. Hyundai offer product features, such as electric windows and ABS brakes, not only
on its luxury vehicles, but on entry level models too.
c. Lanzerac Wine Estate have six bottles of choice wine on offer at a lower price than
each would cost individually, for a limited period.
d. Altec Autopage Cellular will deliver your cellular phone to your doorstep at no
extra cost.
e. Hand Andy has introduced a new and improved formula for its cleaning agent.
12. Nancy Drew is the President of Delightful Inc., a producer of several instant coffee
brands. She is in the process of revising her marketing strategy. Which of the
following areas could Nancy change in such a revision?
a. Competitors’ marketing action programs
b. Economic conditions surrounding the coffee industry
c. The lifestyles of the instant coffee drinker market segment
d. Changing social attitudes towards coffee
e. New flavours of instant coffee
13. Which ONE of the following statements does NOT describe an activity associated
with environmental scanning?
a. Analysing trade figures
b. Reading the analyses of management consulting firms and financial institutions
c. Attending seminars and conferences
d. Collecting historical data from government departments
e. Analysing the speeches of political leaders
14. Which ONE of the following statements does NOT represent a basic consumer
right?
a. The right to basic needs
b. The right to safety
c. The right to claim
d. The right to be informed
e. The right to be heard
15. What is the name given to a defined, fairly homogenous group that managers feel is
most likely to buy a firm’s product?
a. The target market
b. The buying centre
c. The mass market
d. The consumer cluster
e. The demography
16. Which marketing mix factors cannot be controlled by a firm?
a. demographic factors
b. media buying factors
c. distribution factors
d. office layout factors
e. pricing for services
17. The marketing department of a shaving razor and blade company constantly
monitors trends in the external environment that might impact on the firm.
Their main product is a disposable twin-blade shaver, designed for the busy
person who wants simplicity, ease of use and the convenience of a disposable
razor. Which current environmental trends may pose a major new threat to this
firm?
a. Many healthy competitors in the field
b. Technological factors that are automating production
c. Demographic factors that demonstrate a decrease in the birth rate
d. Social factors that are increasing an interest in the environment and recycling
e. Product safety legislation currently before parliament
18. An external information search is especially important when _______________.
a. there is a great deal of past experience
b. there is a high risk of making an incorrect decision
c. the cost of gathering information is high
d. buying frequently purchased, low-cost items
e. there is little risk of making an incorrect decision
19. Which types of products do marketing managers often use in-store promotions to
stimulate sales?
a. Technical products
b. High-involvement products
c. High-priced products
d. Low-involvement products
e. Industrial products
20. A new firm wishes to establish its business on the sales orientation. Study the table
below and choose which best describes this orientation.
Firm’s focus
Primary goal
a
Outward: sell out all
the firm’s products
b
Inward: sell what the
firms makes
c
Outward: needs of
consumers
d
Inward: sell what the
firm makes
e
Outward: sell out all
the firm’s products
Earn profit
through
maximum
sales volume
Earn profit
through
maximum
sales volume
Earn profit
through
customer
satisfaction
Earn profit
through
customer
satisfaction
Earn profit
through
maximum
sales
Tools to realise
primary goal
Decisions on
product, price,
distribution and
communication
Intensive personal
selling and
advertising
Direct product to
Product and
distribution
decisions
Specific groups of
people
Decisions on
product, price,
distribution and
communication
Price decisions
Employees and
shareholders of the
firm
Everyone
Everyone
Specific groups of
people
21. Income, ethnic background, gender and age are all examples of ________
segmentation.
a. benefit
b. behavioural
c. demographic
d. geographic
e. psychographic
22. Oil of Olay skin lotion has traditionally targeted women over 30 years of age. What
variable do they employ for segmentation?
a. Demographic segmentation
b. Benefit segmentation
c. Psychographic segmentation
d. Usage rate segmentation
e. Occasion segmentation
23. Thornton Home Builders is interested in finding out how many consumers in its
town fall within a certain age range, are married, and have one to three small
children. What does this kind of demographic study involve?
a. Micro-markets
b. Lifestyles
c. Geographics
d. Geodemographics
e. Family life cycle
24.
Diamonds sold in jewellery stores were perceived to be a rather generic product
– one brand of diamond was much like another. Then De Beers began an
advertising campaign to tell consumers that a De Beers diamond, and
particularly the millennium brand, was a better choice. De Beers brought
_______________ to the marketing of diamonds.
a. perceptual mapping
b. product differentiation
c. psychographic targeting
d. concentrated or niche target strategy
e. cannibalisation
25. Fossil is well-known for the nostalgic tins in which they sell their watches. Which
product base for differentiation do they use?
a. Product range
b. Features
c. Style
d. Reseller brands
e. Quality maintenance
26. Which characteristic do better-trained personnel NOT exhibit?
a. Competence
b. Courtesy
c. Credibility
d. Communication
e. Coldness
26.
The technique of perceptual mapping may be used by marketers to
_______________.
i. reduce the high risks of repositioning the product
ii. divide customers in subgroups with similar needs
iii. select the target market(s) to be served
iv. understand how competing products are perceived by various consumer groups
v. understand the similarities and dissimilarities between competing products
Choose one of the following combinations:
a. i, ii, iii, iv, v
b. ii, iii
c. i only
d. iv, v
e. i, iv, v
27. What happens when two brands are positioned very closely on a perceptual map?
a. They are less perceptually alike
b. They are closer in price
c. They are more objectively alike
d. They are more likely to be part of an undifferentiated marketing strategy
e. They are perceived similarly by consumers
28. Kruger & van Zyl Inc., a prestigious law firm, have a very formal office setting.
They have old-fashioned bookshelves with thick leather-bound books, certificates
on the walls, dark wood desks with leather trimmings and golden lamp shades.
The staff dresses very formally to work. Which dimension of service quality are
Kruger & van Zyl utilising to position their service?
a. Reliability
b. Empathy
c. Tangibles
d. Assurance
e. Responsiveness
29. Which of the following are basic positioning alternatives?
i. Searching for an unoccupied position
ii. Positioning a product or brand in the test phase
iii. Strengthening an existing position
iv. Repositioning the product or brand
v. Occupying a position of quality in the mind of the consumer
Choose one of the following combinations:
a. i, ii
b. iii, iv
c. i, ii, iii, iv, v
d. ii, v
e. i, iii, iv
30. Under which of the following circumstances may a product be in need of
repositioning?
i. When factors in the macro environment cause consumers to purchase cheaper
versions of the product
ii. When no technological breakthroughs are present
iii. When the product was not positioned correctly in the first place
iv. When competitors position products nearby, resulting in a smaller market share
v. When customer tastes and preferences shift
Choose one of the following combinations:
a. i, iii, iv, v
b. iii, v
c. ii, iii, iv, v
d. i, ii, iii, iv, v
e. iii, iv, v